Imladris, good topic, I don't really have a definate answer. I will say that I think Morgoth kept the Silmarils, because of greed. But, I wonder if this is Tolkien trying to show the "evil/hated" used to be good.
When you think of light, you think of "good." If you think about it, nobody is "born" evil. Nobody is born/created with the intent of killing, or murdering, or raping, they at one point of their life were "good." Melkor was at first good, Gollum was, unfortunately I don't know a lot about Ungoliant so I wouldn't be able to say. When you think of Sauron, he too was at first good, then turned evil. Is this Tolkien trying to show evil comes out of good? I happen to believe one year old babies don't have any thought of killing people. I'm pretty sure Stalin at one year old didn't ever say, jeez I want to murder 20 million people. It's what that person experiences/learns to become the way he becomes, a good example Sauron. Then how does evil begin? if nobody is "born" evil? Greed. Greed for money, greed for power, maybe curiosity, who knows. I don't even know if Tolkien meant any of this, just splurting out a possibility.
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